‘Difficult’ to overturn deal – mayor
Timaru’s mayor says his council could instruct its holdings company to pull out of an agreement to sell Showgrounds Hill to developer Redwood QT, but this would come with ‘‘huge’’ legal and financial ramifications.
‘‘The developer would have a fair argument that they had been wronged, and there would be damages to go with that,’’ Timaru District mayor Nigel Bowen said.
He said it would be very difficult for the agreement not to take place.
Bowen fielded a number of questions relating to the sale of the former showgrounds site to Auckland-based developer Redwood QT during a heated public meeting at Caroline Bay Hall on Thursday night.
Timaru District Council’s holdings company, Timaru District Holdings Ltd (TDHL), is still in negotiation with Redwood QT over the sale of the site which it plans to turn into a 34,000sqm retail centre.
On Friday, TDHL chairman Ian
Fitzgerald confirmed the sale and purchase agreement with Redwood QT was signed just before last year’s local government elections in October. It was not made public until November.
Fitzgerald said two TDHL directors had signed the agreement, but he would not confirm who that was, saying the information ‘‘doesn’t matter’’.
‘‘They were signing for, and on behalf, of the company, not in their individual capacity.’’
At the time the document was signed, the directors of TDHL were councillor Richard Lyon, thencouncillor Kerry Stevens, thenmayor Damon Odey, Richie Smith and Fitzgerald.
Despite admitting the council did have a way out of the deal, albeit potentially costly, Bowen said people should prepare for the likelihood of the development going ahead.
‘‘It was made very clear with both the CBD group and the Chamber of Commerce that there was no ability to pause it,’’ Bowen said.
‘‘They’ve had the opportunity to hold their public meeting, which was something they wanted to do. It was never going to change the outcome.’’
He said he believed if the public was polled on the development, ‘‘you would probably get an 80 per cent support rate from the district’’ in favour of the Showgrounds Hill development.
Timaru CBD Group chairman Nigel Gilkison remains hopeful it is not too late to convince either Timaru District councillors, or the developer, to halt the process. Gilkison said he was pleased with the turnout on Thursday night which saw people forced to listen from the foyer once the hall reached its 100-person limit under Covid-19 restrictions. He said while he got the impression the agreement between the developer and TDHL ‘‘could well be a done deal’’, he hoped councillors at the meeting would re-consider ‘‘pausing’’ the application until proper public consultation had taken place.
The CBD Group would present a petition opposing the Showgrounds Hill development to the council soon, he said. Redwood QT group chairman Tony Gapes declined to comment on the matter when contacted. Bowen said if Redwood QT decided to pull out of the deal the council would reconsider the future of the showgrounds site.
‘‘TDHL has always said they would send it back to council for future consideration of the site,’’ he said.
The Timaru District does not have the population or expenditure to support a proposed 34,000sqm retail centre at Showgrounds Hill, a senior planner and analyst says.
Speaking at a public meeting at Timaru’s Caroline Bay Hall on Thursday night, senior planner and analyst Gemma Conlon said the numbers did not stack up.
‘‘It’s in my opinion that the Showgrounds Hill development and the town centre cannot operate effectively together. We don’t have the population, we don’t have the expenditure, it can’t be done,’’ she said.
‘‘So we’ve got to look at new ways of revitalising the town centre and working collaboratively.’’
However,
Conlon said she believed ‘‘the horse could have already bolted’’ given the application’s current status.
Conlon said the consent application for the development had been amended, and it fits within the District Plan so was likely to be considered as a controlled activity.
‘‘If it is accepted as a controlled activity, then the council has to grant consent, they do not have the ability to refuse it ... it also means it is very likely to be no public consultation,’’ Conlon said.
Conlon was one of six speakers who addressed the public meeting, hosted by the non-profit Timaru CBD Group in response to a proposal by Auckland-based developer Redwood QT to turn the Showgrounds Hill site into a 34,000sqm retail centre.
Emotions ran high and insults were slung at the meeting which ran for just short of two hours.
Keynote speaker Warren Snow, a former general manager of the
Tindall Foundation, spoke about the potential impacts ‘‘big box development’’ posed to town centres.
‘‘Your town centre was created slowly and organically ... it’s not just a place of commercial transaction, it’s got a lot of social good around those transactions,’’ Snow said.
‘‘Small business owners are often highly visible in the community, running clubs and participating in civic events and donating to local things.’’
Snow said these large-scale developers tend to play ‘‘one town off against another’’ in order to get the best outcome for their business.
He also said there was a move away from big box development and back into town centres.
Developer and CBD property owner Shaun Stockman said while he was not a resident of Timaru, he spends a lot of time in the town and believed the development would compromise the CBD if allowed to go ahead.
‘‘I’ve seen it first-hand. The Christchurch City Council took it upon themselves to rezone the area around the airport and that has had an impact on the CBD and outlying retail.’’
He first came to Timaru in 2002, buying buildings in the town ‘‘mainly because I love it here’’.
‘‘While the main street is pretty as it is, it needs rejuvenation and
there are earthquake issues and that’s a challenge for the future.’’
Any development will compromise those issues in the CBD, he said.
South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce chief executive Wendy Smith said the Showgrounds Hill development was one of the district’s most significant issues.
‘‘This is one of the largest commercial developments in the history of South Canterbury, and it has a potential commercial area which matches or exceeds the existing area of the CBD,’’ Smith said.
‘‘This development goes against the premise of keeping local.’’
Several people at the meeting expressed their concern about the fact TDHL had not done any public consultation around the proposed development or its intention to sell the land.
Dr Albert Makary called on the council and community to take a
‘‘We don’t have the population, we don’t have the expenditure, it can’t be done.’’ Gemma Conlon
breather.
‘‘This development could cause irreversible damage to the CBD ... as a doctor, you always have to say ‘first, do no harm’ and this will cause harm,’’ Makary said.
‘‘What is the rush for this development?’’ he asked before saying he did not believe all councillors had the full picture of the impacts of the development.
Timaru Grey Power president Jock Anderson asked the council and holdings company to delay any decision on the development for at least 12 months so proper public consultation could happen.
Timaru District Holdings Ltd, the council’s holding company, is in negotiation with Redwood QT over the sale and purchase of the land.